If you like hip-hop, but can’t stand the stripper-pole garbage that passes for it on the radio these days, I’m pleased to say I’ve found a cure. The album is “Just Listen.” The artist is Majestik Originality.

I’ve been listening to it nonstop the past week and it always manages to transport me back to the late-eighties, when hip-hop was fresh and inventive and, most importantly, had a message to deliver.

You won’t hear any materialistic, capitalistic, name-brand name-dropping on Just Listen. You’ll hear thoughtful rhymes about life growing up and living in NYC, and all the challenges and joys therein. For me, though, the highlight of the album thus far has been a short little outtake from the studio where Majestik lets go of a vicious free-style rap called “Sick Sixth” that shows you just how good this guy really is. 

It’s easy to be cynical about the music industry these days. And I’ll admit that I snort and scoff pretty much every time I hear someone use the term “recording artist” for the latest auto-tuned, talentless, corporate-bred, synergizing shill. Probably the best thing this album, and Majestik Originality in particular, have done, is they’ve given back recording artists their good name.